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Howdy. This'll be my project blog for the (mostly) stock restoration of my 55'. I plan on using it for daily driver duty. It is a little crispy as she sits, needing some body work, specifically the rear fenders, and does have some motor problems. At the moment, the lifters aren't being sufficiently oiled and it is causing some pretty bad knocking. It had been sitting a good year in a guy's yard sunk up, and before that had been in a barn for thirty years. It's an Indiana car, which is where I picked it up and brought it to West Virginia. My plan is to pull the motor soon and disassemble it, clean everything up and replace what needs to be, install the Olds pump upgrade, get the brakes stopping as they should, then start on the body. It has the 320 V8, Twin/Dual Ultramatic Transmission, and I'm not sure if it has the torsion bar suspension, there are holes in the dash for the control system to be, but the piece didn't come with it to me. It is a decently low mileage vehicle, 49k. The guys before me done some work, a tune up kit, and some new wiring, but everything is half done so I got my work cut out for me. It was originally two-tone blue and white, but its been resprayed plain white. The chrome has been *shudders* drilled on. Someone drilled THROUGH the trim pieces to attach them, so I'll need those repaired or replaced eventually. Thanks for your time and check back regularly for updates!

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Congratulations on finding your "new" car. Looks like a nice starting project. At #2308 it is a fairly early built car. According to the option list TL didn't become available as an option on Supers until June of 55 -- almost the end of the production year.

Congratulations, that will be a great driving car when you get it up and going. They are terrific on the hiway, and also on curvy roads.

Let me know if you need some help with the Ultramatic.

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Here's a video from when we first got the car running:

Watch here

It quit smoking after about 5 mins of running. It hasn't been starting since then, due to the knocking issue and the starter being burnt up.

Awesome car!!!!

Welcome to the world of Packards!

We look forward to seeing your progress. It's great to see another V8 Packard being restored!

Thanks for all the feedback and friendliness!

Just ordered the oil pump adapter kit from Jack Vines, next onto brakes if this fixes the knocking..

Sad news. We jacked the Panama up, only to reveal nothing but rusty depression. Body mounts are gone. firewall is shot, the inner rockers are nonexistent, and we bent the frame just by jacking it up. If anyone has another, solid, frame available, let me know.

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That is really disappointing. The car looks very good from the top only to find the bottom is almost non existent.

No idea where you would find a frame that is close to you. Ross in Maryland might have an idea. You could send him a PM to see. Fish'nJim just posted a link to a large auction in Iowa that has another 55 Panama (lot#69) among the offerings. 3 days to go and It has not attracted much of a bid yet. Just from looks, hard to say if it would be in better shape though.
proxibid.com/asp/Catalog.asp?aid=132447&p=3&sort=0#cnTb

Mike Dulinski in Minnesota has numerous 55-6 parts cars and could probably come up with one but getting it to WV might be expensive.